Among the Stars

              G.BRUCE BLAIR ASTRONOMICAL LECTURER

Among The Stars

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Exclusive Management of the
Chautauqua Managers Association
Chicago

Personal Address
Washburn College Observatory
Topeka, Kansas



ILLUSTRATED LECTURES ON THE WONDERS WHICH THE TELESCOPE REVEALS
BY G. Bruce Blair

Short Talks for Chautauquas
A series of short lectures presenting in a popular way some of the interesting astronomical and scientific problems of the day.  In these days of marvelous scientific discovery it is not necessary to go to the Arabian Knights for wonders.  Charts are employed to illustrate these lectures.


World Making
The Stars and Beyond
Beyond the Microscope
The Mystery of Radium
The Orb of Day
Falling Stars

Short Talks are not so instructive that they cease to be entertaining.  Professor Blair … is well fitted by experience and personality to combine instruction and entertainment.



A Telescope on the Chautauqua Grounds
Professor Blair carries with him on his Chautauqua engagements an excellent 3 2/1 inch refracting telescope which is available for use on the Chautauqua grounds.  This feature is a tremendous drawing card and merits the careful consideration of Chautauqua program builders.




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LECTURE I. OUR CELESTIAL NEIGHBORS
Our nearest neighbor, the Moon, is over 200,000 miles away, but by the magic aid of the telescope, the camera and the stereopticon, we are able to step across the intervening chasm and wander over the surface of our satellite at will.  We see a dead world—her bosom torn and blasted by the fierce convulsions and upheavals of a past age.  Her mountains and huge crater rings stand out in startling relief, but in all the great wilderness of jagged peaks and craters which we see, not one well authenticated change has been noted since Galileo first declared that there are mountains on the moon.

MARS.—Mars is no dead world, presenting forever an unchanging aspect to the eye.  His polar ice caps, changing with the seasons, and the wonderful system of canals which criss-cross his surface, are among the items which make him of special interest.  Is Mars inhabited?  The lecturer discusses the latest information on this point, stating the arguments on which is based the belief of the supporters of this idea.



LECTURE II. THE COMET—HE IS ON HIS WAY

The Comet—he is on his way, and singing as he flies.
The whizzing planets shrink before that spectre of the skies.
Ah!  well my regal orbs turn blue, and satellites turn pale;
Ten Million Cubic Leagues of Head, Ten Billion Leagues of Tail!

Every one is interested in these brilliant celestial visitors, which sweep like flaming swords across the skies and vanish into space from whence they came, some never to return, others, like Halley's, returning only after the lapse of many years to light up the heavens for a new generation.

In the past, great comets have been regarded as omens of ill, and of special portent in the affairs of kings.  The history of Halley's comet is a romantic one, and Professor Blair has woven together a fascinating lecture in which this comet takes central place.



LECTURE III. ABOVE THE CLOUDS
A realistic visit to an observatory on a mountain top.

The lecturer takes the audience with him in imagination up the mountain road from San Jose for an evening's visit to the wonderful Lick Observatory on Mt. Hamilton, California.

They watch the sunset from the mountain top, and see the snow-white cataract of fog roll in from the Pacific and cover the whole valley below, leaving them LITERALLY ABOVE THE CLOUDS.  They enter the observatory, examine the marvelous photographs and drawings of celestial bodies which line the walls, see the curious astronomical instruments used in studying the far-off lands of the sky, look through the great telescope at the red planet Mars, which some astronomers believe to be inhabited, and thus the evening slips away in strange and fascinating occupation.



Marvelous Celestial Photographs Thrown on the Screen Under Powerful Illumination Reveal The Heavenly Bodies Precisely as They are Seen with the Largest Telescopes in the World






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From a photograph of the Telescope carried by Professor Blair, as mounted for the use of students at the Washburn College Observatory Topeka, Kansas

Professor Blair is a practical astronomer.  He has held positions in two of the great astronomical observatories of the United States

A glimpse of the dome of Washburn College Observatory, where Professor Blair received his first training in Astronomy


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MALL, PRINTING HOUSE, TOPEK A, KS. 





LICK OBSERVATORY, MT. HAMILTON, CALIFORNIA.

Comments
Prof. Blair … - has a large knowledge of astronomy, has fine slides and is an entertaining speaker.—H. I. WOODS, Director Washburn College Observatory.

C. B. VAN HORN, M. D., Topeka, Kansas.

To the Public:  The Brotherhood of Central Church of this city has listened to the very instructive and entertaining lectures on astronomy by Prof. G. B. Blair, and can speak of them only in the highest terms.  A technical subject made equally fascinating to the popular and scientific audience.

Chas. M. Sheldon, Pastor.
(Signed) C. B. VAN HORN, President.

It was very interesting to all present.—Sioux City Academy of Science and Letters, E. E. Stacey, President.

'An Evening above the Clouds.'  A good subject, and presented by one who is well fitted by experience and personality to combine instruction and entertainment…—R. Clifford Cully, Pastor Morningside Presbyterian Church, Sioux City, Iowa.



MORNINGSIDE COLLEGE Sioux City, Iowa Department of Psychology and Philosophy
To Whom It May Concern:  March 13, 1909.

Prof. G. B. Blair, of this college, is a strong man and a thorough scholar in the subject of astronomy.  He was for a year assistant in the Allegheny Astronomical Observatory, Pittsburg, Pa. and left there to take a fellowship in astronomy in the Lick Observatory, Mt. Hamilton, California.  Mr. Blair's lecture is interesting and entertaining without the slides, but with the 100 stereopticon slides, which he uses, his address becomes interesting and instructive to a high degree.  I feel that I cannot recommend him too highly.  You will not be disappointed in what he gives you.  He is a good speaker, both in conversation and public address.  This is a rare opportunity to have one who is master of the subject discourse upon the works of God in the sky above us.

Very sincerely,
(Signed) H. G. CAMPBELL.

Your lecture (Above the Clouds) was very satisfactory.  I wish you every success.—Rev. John Endacott, Pastor 1st M. E. Church, Clay Center, Kansas.

Professor Blair gave a most interesting and instructive chapel talk.  He has the ability to make a technical and obscure subject popular.—Principal A. J. Stout, Topeka High School.